Grand Lake Theatre, Movie palace in the Grand Lake neighborhood, Oakland, United States
The Grand Lake Theatre is a four-screen cinema housed in a neoclassical building in Oakland, showing both current releases and older films. Located at 3200 Grand Avenue, it offers a traditional movie-going environment with contemporary programming.
The theater opened in 1926 as a single-screen venue designed by architects Reid & Reid for businessmen Abraham Karski and Louis Kaliski. It was later expanded to add the additional screens seen today.
A Wurlitzer organ plays before weekend evening shows, connecting today's audiences to an older style of cinema. The instrument brings live music into the movie-watching experience.
The theatre stands at the corner of Grand Avenue and Lake Park Avenue, with the marquee facing the busy intersection. The rooftop sign is usually lit on Friday and Saturday from dusk until the last show begins. The main auditorium's Wurlitzer organ rises from beneath the floor for a short concert before Friday and Saturday evening films.
The rooftop sign was built by Brumfield Electric Sign Co. and designed by Theodore Wetteland. It measures 52 feet high by 72 feet wide, and its firing sequence is run by a device much like a music box. It is usually lit on Friday and Saturday from dusk until the last show begins.
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